So many passwords! What a pain in the butt. Why can't I just use one for everything?
Every time you turn around you are having to make a new login account for something, a new social media account or to pickup the results of your recent blood work. Do you really need to use a separate password for every account? The short answer is YES! The internet is thick with articles about why it is important to use separate passwords but for the people in the back, it is because if one site gets hacked and our email/password gets compromised that the hacker can't then try it on your credit card account, Amazon, banking, medical records, etc. I feel sick even thinking about the horrible fallout from such a breach. Don't try to think up cleaver passwords - use a random password generator. There are loads out there for free. Password Generator is just one of them.
OK and I know the next thing is, "I can't remember them all". Me either. There are two ways to go. There are free and paid solutions. My current solution is KeePass which I have used for several years. I may take a look at Bitwarden after reading this article in Wired for the top rated password solutions for 2023. I chose KeePass for several reasons; KeePass is installed on my system so it isn't open to breach like the publicly hosted solutions are, I'm 95% of the time at my desk so access to my passwords, I have a main memorized password to login to my main listing so even if someone got my machine they still require the password to access it, oh ya and it's free, open source, and has a strong password generator built in. TIP: Save your KeePass file to your cloud storage (Dropbox, iCloud, GDrive, etc) or onto a thumb drive so if anything happens to your system you can access all your passwords to setup the new one. 2FA - what? Two Factor Authentication is great so long as you have access to your cell phone and reliable cell service. 2FA sends you a login code (6 digits) to enter when you try to log into your account. If your phone is dead for any reason you will also not be able to access your account. At the end of the day there are lots of great solutions both free and paid to help you on your way to more secure surfing. Stay safe out there!
